We have moved this Blog to our own server location. It has been expanded and upgraded. The new expanded topics are:
1. Home
2. About Walt Barrett
3. Photos
4. Video
5. Micro Homes
6. Solar Energy
7. Money & Business
Please visit us there at www.waltbarrett.com
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
This Blog Has Moved by Walt Barrett
I have moved this blog to www.waltbarrett.com and it has been upgraded into several sections including solar, micro homes, photos and video. I had no choice due to a total lack of technical support form Google.
Please tell your friends and come on over. It's bigger and better!
There is a fresh post this morning March 14, 2009.
Thanks,
Walt
Please tell your friends and come on over. It's bigger and better!
There is a fresh post this morning March 14, 2009.
Thanks,
Walt
Thursday, March 12, 2009
This blog has moved by Walt Barrett
We have completed our new blog site on our own server located a www.waltbarrett.com . We would appreciate it if you continue to read our blogs, and follow us to the new site. We will continue to discuss alternate energy, and the business opportunities involved. We have added videos and photos that relate to the alternate energy and micro home business. We will be following up on our micro home construction project and living totally off the power grid. We will also offer more DIY information, so please join us at www.waltbarrett.com .
Thanks,
Walt
Thanks,
Walt
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
My New Blog Page by Walt Barrett
We have spent the past week building a new Blog page on our own company business server.
I will continue to post to this site, and the new one for a while, but will eventually drop this site. We need a space of our own that we can control properly. We are still working the kinks out of the new site, but hope you will take a peek at: www.waltbarrett.com . And please be patient. This is not an easy task. The new site may be a little rocky for a short time. I will be commenting on many topical subjects.
Thanks,
Walt
I will continue to post to this site, and the new one for a while, but will eventually drop this site. We need a space of our own that we can control properly. We are still working the kinks out of the new site, but hope you will take a peek at: www.waltbarrett.com . And please be patient. This is not an easy task. The new site may be a little rocky for a short time. I will be commenting on many topical subjects.
Thanks,
Walt
Friday, March 06, 2009
Are Minimum Home Size Zoning Codes Discriminatory by Walt Barrett
It's no secret that one of my divisions is building micro homes. We get a lot of mail from people that are very interested in these smaller homes, and one of their big complaints is that their city, or town has what are referred to as minimum home square footage standards, or other words to that effect. Now I can understand that no one wants a bunch of shacks, and yards littered with junk cars etc. in their neighborhood, and I totally agree with that. But those same zoning laws are designed to prevent property from being turned into junk yards and trash piles etc. They also require safe building standards to be followed including proper plumbing, wiring, ventilation, sanitation etc. and that is a very good thing too.
Now this is the part that gets troublesome. By limiting the minimum size of a home the zoning officials are discriminating against people with low incomes, singles, or couples with no children, elderly retirees on low incomes, and people that just want to live greener and save energy by living smaller. I have written to the local office of the American Civil Liberties Union for an opinion on this matter. Why should a person for example be told that they must build a 2000 square foot home when all they want is a 400 square foot home, or whatever size they want?
So I am going on the record as saying that those minimum square footage laws are discriminatory and elitist. Everyone is entitled to own a home, and if they abide by the building and sanitation standard they should be allowed to build it. There are many affordable pieces of land that these smaller homes can be built on and I think it is time that we make the necessary changes to allow it. I feel the same way about micro apartments.
Ask yourself who really has the most to gain by mandating that people build larger energy wasting homes?
Walt
Now this is the part that gets troublesome. By limiting the minimum size of a home the zoning officials are discriminating against people with low incomes, singles, or couples with no children, elderly retirees on low incomes, and people that just want to live greener and save energy by living smaller. I have written to the local office of the American Civil Liberties Union for an opinion on this matter. Why should a person for example be told that they must build a 2000 square foot home when all they want is a 400 square foot home, or whatever size they want?
So I am going on the record as saying that those minimum square footage laws are discriminatory and elitist. Everyone is entitled to own a home, and if they abide by the building and sanitation standard they should be allowed to build it. There are many affordable pieces of land that these smaller homes can be built on and I think it is time that we make the necessary changes to allow it. I feel the same way about micro apartments.
Ask yourself who really has the most to gain by mandating that people build larger energy wasting homes?
Walt
Monday, March 02, 2009
A New Solar Micro Home Page by Walt Barrett
Please visit our new web page that combines Micro Homes and related solar systems and lighting all on one web page.
http://www.chinadepot.com/microhomepage.html
Thanks,
Walt
http://www.chinadepot.com/microhomepage.html
Thanks,
Walt
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Smaller Homes and Population Shifts Are Inevitable For Americans by Walt Barrett
There is no question in my mind that in the near future many Americans will be forced to move into smaller homes. This is going to happen despite the fact that energy prices have come down slightly and we are experiencing temporary relief. Many of us in the northern climates will also be relocating to the warmer climates. The energy prices are going to go up again and will continue to rise every year. This is going to make it virtually impossible for the lower income and retired Americans to stay in the colder climates. Let's take a typical retired couple with a paid up mortgage and a combine retirement income of $1500.00 a month. There are many in this bracket in our area of New England. Let's say that they burn 1000 gallons of heating oil in a year. The way oil prices have been the past year this can amount to anywhere from $2, 000.00 to $4,000.00 a year. If you then add that to their property and fire tax bill, that takes the yearly total up to $10,000.00. Now if their pensions only come to $15,000.00 a year, that only leaves them $5000.00 to pay their income taxes, state and federal, buy groceries, pay doctors bills, drive their automobile, and all the other little incidentals in life.
Now if some of you are gasping in disbelief over the above figures, believe it, because New England is loaded with people in that income bracket and even lower incomes, ands it getting worse! Furthermore, many of the cities and towns in our area are grossly mismanaged and are taxing everything in site. So where are we going with this scenario? It's simple, the poor and the elderly that are lucky enough to own a home that they used to be able to afford are going to have to sell it, or lose it. So I predict that there will be a lot of selling home in the north and moving south where you can at least starve to death without freezing to death first. The crime rates will go up dramatically too.
The folks with the pensions will leave first because they have that "portable income" so to speak, and hopefully the cash from the sale of their home they were forced to sell up north. I see this happening with some of my friends already. Now if they play it smart, this is their chance to start over right. By right, I mean that they can take their seed money and build a small energy efficient home. Air conditioning is a major expense in the south, but if you have 25% of the cubic feet than a larger house, and it is well insulated and designed you can cut the air-conditioning costs by 75% easily. If you have Light Emitting Diode light bulbs, they run cold for one thing, and they also save 95% of your lighting bill. Solar hot water heating in the south will save at least 80%. The same goes for your refrigerator and other appliance. Stoves, Dryers and back up water heaters should be gas. Hanging up clothes never killed anyone either, and saves a lot of energy. So what I am really saying is that if you want to survive financially in the future one of the best ways to do it is to start lining a greener life style, if you will. There is no better time than right now for you to start investigating the alternate life styles that will enable you to survive than the present. Be sure to find a town with low taxes that hasn't been taken over by the "Empire Builders" that bring with them the higher taxes caused by bloated town payrolls with their bloated pension and medical plans that the locals are expected to support. The chickens will be coming home to roost on these guys soon now! We are going to talk a lot more about all of this in the future.
Walt
Now if some of you are gasping in disbelief over the above figures, believe it, because New England is loaded with people in that income bracket and even lower incomes, ands it getting worse! Furthermore, many of the cities and towns in our area are grossly mismanaged and are taxing everything in site. So where are we going with this scenario? It's simple, the poor and the elderly that are lucky enough to own a home that they used to be able to afford are going to have to sell it, or lose it. So I predict that there will be a lot of selling home in the north and moving south where you can at least starve to death without freezing to death first. The crime rates will go up dramatically too.
The folks with the pensions will leave first because they have that "portable income" so to speak, and hopefully the cash from the sale of their home they were forced to sell up north. I see this happening with some of my friends already. Now if they play it smart, this is their chance to start over right. By right, I mean that they can take their seed money and build a small energy efficient home. Air conditioning is a major expense in the south, but if you have 25% of the cubic feet than a larger house, and it is well insulated and designed you can cut the air-conditioning costs by 75% easily. If you have Light Emitting Diode light bulbs, they run cold for one thing, and they also save 95% of your lighting bill. Solar hot water heating in the south will save at least 80%. The same goes for your refrigerator and other appliance. Stoves, Dryers and back up water heaters should be gas. Hanging up clothes never killed anyone either, and saves a lot of energy. So what I am really saying is that if you want to survive financially in the future one of the best ways to do it is to start lining a greener life style, if you will. There is no better time than right now for you to start investigating the alternate life styles that will enable you to survive than the present. Be sure to find a town with low taxes that hasn't been taken over by the "Empire Builders" that bring with them the higher taxes caused by bloated town payrolls with their bloated pension and medical plans that the locals are expected to support. The chickens will be coming home to roost on these guys soon now! We are going to talk a lot more about all of this in the future.
Walt
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Micro Home Plans from Walt barrett
This is an eight foot by sixteen foot micro home plan. There are a total of 46 pages of drawings , All elevations, foundation plans,saw cutting angles and a complete bill of materials. The whole package on a CD is $495.00 and we can quote larger and smaller sizes.
Any questions,
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Solar Factory Tour by Walt Barrett
Hurras Solar America is offering solar hot water heating systems starting at $199.00 plus shipping. For full price lists contact wbarrett1@aol.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)